This bill states that “the United States was founded on the principle of freedom of religion and not freedom from religion… prayer by a deliberative public body should be protected under law and encouraged in society because voluntary prayer has become a part of the fabric of this society.”

This bill if passed will encourage more school districts to pray at school board meetings and alienate nonreligious students, teachers, parents, and school administrators from their own communities. Join the AHA in defending church-state separation by using the form below to contact your Representative.

He has worked for the betterment of our district. When the administration was prepared to compromise on the budget by cutting funding for college loans, he rallied others in Congress to refuse the deal and protected low-income students from losing an opportunity to get an education.

State Representative District 40

Agustin Hernandez

The best candidate is Agustin Hernandez, his reasoning for running and his proposals on his website are very convincing and well thought out.

As I was doing research for this I am looking these people up. I have met most of them, Mr Betancourt doesn’t even have a website or it is hard to find. Terry Canalez is an attorney with no real experience or valuable convincing reason being elected. Robert Pena has the experience, he was in a school district and has been part of several business organizations, he would be the candidate that would most likely care for business interest most of all.

Referendum #1 – FOR

Reads:

Any graduate of a Texas high school, who has lived in the state for at least three years and lived here continuously for the last year, should be eligible for in-state tuition at state supported colleges and universities and given the opportunity to earn legal status through a higher education or military service.

If these students did the work, made the grades, and have lived in Texas for a long time they should be able to go to college. When they graduate, they would become great additions to our state. If they are going to college they are not criminals. Education should be a universal right

Referendum #2 – FOR

Reads:

Because a college education is increasingly necessary for jobs that allow our citizens to achieve middle class lifestyles and become the entrepreneurs who create the jobs that our economy relies on, we call on the Texas Legislature to fund colleges and universities such that tuition and fees can be affordable to all Texans.

Education is a social equalizer and helps people greatly increase their ability to progress. Students are graduating with greater amounts of debt.

The Texas legislature cut a lot of money to education last year in the 2011 congressional session. Colleges have been affected; they have had to cut down the number of teacher and other areas of school which affects students.

We need to invest in our education to have better inventors, teachers, doctors, scientists, etc. That will bring progress to our state and country.

Referendum #3 – FOR

Reads

Should the Texas Legislature allow the people of Texas to vote to legalize casino gambling with all funds generated being used only for education?

We need to keep the money in Texas, people gamble when they do they have to go spend all that money in Las Vegas or other locations, we should keep the money here.

The money needed to support our education system needs to come from somewhere and since corporations don’t want to pay taxes some institution must.

It absence of the Legislature’s willingness to provide needed income to the State, this is an alternative that should be acceptable.

We are an American political party, uniquely formed as a true, constitutional movement, reaching out to all who seek a secular government as outlined in the First Amendment to our United States Constitution. Our mission: To politically represent U.S. atheists and all who are drawn to our mandate, in a political process that has thus far marginalized and ignored one of the largest and growing segments of the U.S. population.

The National Atheist Party is a diverse, all inclusive, progressive, secular political movement and a response to the lack of representation for all free thinking people who are legal, law abiding citizens of the United States. We demand emancipation from the religious dogma that has infiltrated our government and has unfairly influenced political decisions and policy making. We are for the people, by the people, and therefore incorporate the right to use the power of the people to restore equality to our Democracy using reasonable, rational and non-violent means.

The National Atheist Party is open to people of all races, sexes and sexual orientations, and cultures. We are committed to a government free of superstition and bias and are guided by principles of equal opportunity, recognition of merit, and economic responsibility. The National Atheist Party does not seek to inhibit the religious practices or beliefs of any group, but is committed to the idea that religious preference is a private matter and has no place in the government or workplace. We support the separation of church and state, and seek to ensure its strictest interpretation.

Earlier this year, the Texas Governor called on Christians across the U.S. to come to Houston for a prayer event aimed at bringing God’s help to a “nation in crisis.”

Organizers of the religious gathering, dubbed “The Response,” say only 8,000 people have registered on-line to attend this Saturday’s event at Houston’sReliant Stadium, a venue with a seating capacity of 71,000.

Eric Bearse, a “Response” spokesman and former speech-writer for the potential GOP presidential candidate, says attendance numbers are a non-issue.

“Not concerned whatsoever. We think it will be a powerful event whether it is 8,000 or 50,000. The only people concerned about numbers are press,” Bearse said.

Perry, who is still considering whether to run for president, is identified as the event’s “initiator” on the “Response” web site.

“We need God’s help,” Perry says in web video on the site’s main page. The Texas governor goes on to call on Americans “to pray and fast like Jesus did.”

The event has come under steady criticism in recent weeks as controversial statements made by some of the gathering’s organizers and pastoral “endorsers” have surfaced on-line.

Bryan Fischer, a spokesman for one key “Response” organizer, the American Family Association, has referred to gay rights activists as “Nazis.”

At a news conference last month, Perry said it was unfair to tie him to comments made by some of the event’s planners.

Critics of “The Response” plan to hold their own gathering on Friday, one day before Perry’s gathering.

Sponsored by the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the “Family, Faith, and Freedom” counter-rally will feature “a wide range of religious and non-religious groups from the Houston community,” according to a statement from the groups.

Both organizations accuse Perry of blurring the line separating church and state. “Government promotion of an exclusive Christian event implies that certain types of people care more about the well-being of our country than others… We don’t see it that way” Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, said in the statement.

On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.